IU Bloomington welcomes large, diverse group of first-year students

By IU Bloomington Newsroom

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University Bloomington welcomed its largest and most diverse cohort of first-year students today. The entering class boasts the best high school grade-point average in campus history and includes solid increases in the number of underrepresented minority students.

Some 7,708 first-year students are on track to be enrolled when classes start Monday, topping the previous record set in the fall of 2012. Most freshmen live in IU residence halls, where they have been arriving this week, culminating in a mass Move-In Day today.

First-year students are projected to have a high-school GPA of 3.73 on a 4-point scale, up from 3.72 for last year’s class. Their average combined SAT/ACT score is estimated to be 1215, second-highest for an IU entering class. As in the past five years, one-third of the students were in the top 10 percent of their high school class. More than 1,000 are enrolled in IU Bloomington's Hutton Honors College.

“We are pleased to have IU Bloomington’s largest class ever moving onto campus this week,” said David B. Johnson, vice provost for enrollment management. “Even more noteworthy is that it is a highly prepared class, with the highest ever GPA, which research says is the best indicator of student success.

“We are also excited to celebrate an important milestone for the Bloomington campus with over 1,000 underrepresented minority students in this beginner class,” Johnson said. “The academic quality and the increase in diverse students are improvements directly connected to the IU Bloomington strategic plan, and it is exciting to see our strategic work taking shape.”

Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel and Dean of Students Harold “Pete” Goldsmith greeted new students and their families this morning as the students moved into residence halls. Robel will preside at 2 and 4 p.m. today at freshman induction ceremonies at the IU Auditorium.

Additional Welcome Week activities today through Saturday provide numerous opportunities for first-year students to make friends, find their way around campus and learn about the university and community that will be their home for the next four years.

IU Bloomington enrollment reached a landmark with 1,042 new students identifying as Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander or more than one race. The number of African-American students is projected to increase by 7 percent, and the number of Hispanic students by 10 percent.

The increases align with the IU Bloomington Strategic Plan, which calls for recruiting and retaining more underrepresented students as undergraduates in recognition of “the need for diversity to improve our classrooms, research and community.”

Additional diversity comes from the projected enrollment of 711 first-year international students from 41 countries on six continents. U.S. students are from 47 of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia. The strongest growth was in California, where the number of first-year IU students grew by 35 percent.

A strong majority of first-year students are Indiana residents, representing 89 of the state’s 92 counties.

So far, 26 percent have been admitted directly to the IU academic program of their choice based on special requirements for direct admission. An estimated two-thirds of the students are arriving with advanced credit for college courses, and 8.9 percent have already attained sophomore status, giving them a step up on complying with Indiana University’s “Finish in Four” initiative and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education’s “15 to Finish” campaign.

Helping to keep higher education affordable, IU Bloomington has awarded $28.5 million in grants and scholarships to first-year students. The class is projected to include 600 Indiana 21st Century Scholars, a number that has increased by 90 percent on the campus over the past seven years. 21st Century Scholars receive state and university funds to fully cover their financial need for attending Indiana University.

Classes start Monday, Aug. 25, at IU Bloomington and other Indiana University campuses. Official fall 2014 enrollment figures will be reported in early September.